Haitian Livin'

The last week in May I went to live with Abdias (one of the guys that works with us) and his family in Cabaret for three days while I surveyed a water system. Talk about a blessing. I hadn’t been able to see what the day to day life of a Haitian family is like, especially since everyone always seems to act a little different when the “blan” or white guy is around. So on Tuesday night, I packed up my survey equipment, grabbed three days worth of clothes and a couple gallons of drinking water and Bruce dropped me off in Cabaret.

Abdias lives with his wife (Madam Abdias), his son (Abdial) in a nice concrete block house with a tin roof. Also, a daughter of a friend (Jessi) is staying with them while she attends high school in Cabaret; this is very common since there are not very many high schools and they are often far from where families live. They graciously moved everyone into their big bedroom so that I could have their second bedroom (Jessi’s room I think) all to myself.

First thing that struck me was how much work Haitian do just to live everyday. The women (assisted by Madam Abdias’ mom for the first day), cooked, cleaned, washed clothes, etc. every minute of the day! I am not exaggerating. Everyday food has to be bought (because there is no refrigeration available), prepared from scratch, and cooked over charcoal stove. This is hard work and takes more than three hours to prepare the big meal for each day. Can you imagine kneeling over a charcoal stove for 3 hours when the temp is over 95˚ in the shade. Then there are dishes to be done and clothes to be washed, and since most Haitians only have a couple sets of clothes, wash has to be done constantly. The Abdias family is better off than most so they are among the blessed few that have a private water connection in their yard. Otherwise they would have to walk a couple miles to get all the water they would need for cooking, cleaning, and bathing.

The food I ate there was amazing. We had viyon fri (fried steak), pòt tomat (a oily tomato sauce), sauce pwa nwa (black bean sauce), banans (plantains), spaghetti (which was served for breakfast), sitwon (limeade), and a great bonbon dessert every night. I went to bed with a full stomach every night.

After the sun went down, we moved out onto the front porch and visited with friends as they came by to chat. In the cool of the evening is the time when Haitians take some time to relax, socialize, and laugh a lot. My creole has gotten better, so I was able to participate in some of the conversations, but mostly I just sat back and took it all in. Abdias has a tv and vcr (which is powered by a battery and solar panel with enough electricity for ~3 hours), so a couple of the nights, we watched a Haitian movie. The movie was in French, but it had English subtitles fortunately, or actually unfortunately. While I’m no film critic, I would give the Haitian movies a definite two thumbs down. I would liken them a soap opera made with a home video camera with the actors reading off of cue cards (you could see their eyes moving back and forth). Both nights, I turned in after about an hour of the movie to get a good night’s sleep.

The survey work that we did during the day was difficult but went very well. While walking 6 miles in the heat of the day with loads of equipment is very tiring, it is an amazing way to see this beautiful country. It’s also great exercise! I’ve never though too much of surveying, but recently God has given me a better attitude about it. I’ve been enjoying it more, which is good because I have a lot of surveying left to do in the couple months I have left.

Unfortunately I forgot my camara, so I have no pictures of the Abdias family, the house I stayed in, or the beautiful sunsets. Fortunately I will be going back to stay with them for another three days to complete the work we started. Next time I will be sure to bring my camara!